Tag: Apple

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WARNING: Mac OS 10.5.6 Breaks Hacked iPhone

Pwnage Tool logoApple released Mac OS 10.5.6 update on Monday (US PST). As always I would suggest everyone follow the instructions on the release notes plus use the Combo Upgrade to upgrade your Mac.

Although, if you are the millions who owns iPhones that had been jailbroken and/or Unlocked, you need to stay AWAY from this Mac OS X update for now. It has been reported that this version of Mac OS X will not recognize hacked iPhones. Until either this report has been independently verified or until the iPhoneDev Team has a method to get around the problem, hacked iPhone users should stay avoid updating their Macintosh for now.

Please stay tuned here, I will update everyone as news develop.

[Update: December 17, 2008]
The iPhoneDev Team has released a note addressing the issue reported regarding the problem with activating the DFU (device firmware update) mode for the iPhone, after the Mac has been upgraded to Mac OS 10.5.6.
The next release of the iPhoneDev Team’s Pwnage Tool is not expected until Christmas Eve (Dec. 31.2008), but there is no mention if this upcoming release will resolve the DFU problem.

[Update: December 19, 2008]
Finally an Automator script that will perform the fix suggested by the iPhoneDev Team. This method will not require a layman to jump into Terminal and fuzz with the inner workings of the Mac.

I have yet to try this so will report when I have.

[Update: December 20, 2008]
Now there are two solutions: one is to connect the iPhone to the Mac via an USB hub. The other is to replace the IOUSBFamily.kext with the version from 10.5. Someone had created an AppleScript to do this for you as explained in the iPhoneWiki forum thread.

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iPhone Firmware 2.2 Is Ready for General Consumption

It has been over two weeks since my first post, Phone Firmware 2.2 NOT for Hacked iPhones about the new iPhone firmware 2.2. Since then the famed hacker team iPhone Dev Team had quickly released 2.2.1 of its Pwnage Tool to correct the bug found back in late-November.

I had also used this version of the firmware for two weeks and can safely report that it has indeed fixed most of the bugs found in previous versions of the iPhone firmware. Although, Safari still crashes when visiting certain sites (ie. Mashable.com), but that may have to do with functionalities on these sites; hard to say.

PS: please read all of iPhone Dev Team’s notes before using the any of the tools released for jailbreaking and/or unlocking your iPhone 2G and 3G. If you do not read all the notes you may be sorry.

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iPhone Firmware 2.2 NOT for Hacked iPhones

As rumored Apple has released the iPhone firmware 2.2 today.

This is a warning to all users who had either jailbroken or unlocked their iPhone or iPhone 3G, this warning even goes for anyone using the iPhone 3G who had not done either, but may want to unlock in the future.

I strongly advice these users not to upgrade their iPhone firmware to 2.2 until the iPhone Dev Team had released an updated version of their PwnageTool.

This applies to the new version of iTunes 8.0.2 also, as we currently do not know if the latest version of iTunes will be compatible with jailbroken or unlocked iPhone and iPhone 3G.

I will update here when it is safe to upgrade your iPhone or iPhone 3G, please stay tuned.

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Advertising Tactics

Apparently Apple and Microsoft have took on the tactics that Coca Cola vs. Pepsi, and McDonald’s vs. Burger King used back in the 80’s.

To be fair the first shot over the bow with their “Get a Mac” TVCs. Microsoft this year decided to spend USD300 millions on an advertising campaign to savage the poor image of Windows, brought on by the negative press towards its latest version of Windows named “Vista”.

[ThoughtsOn]MimCZikP8cY[/ThoughtsOn]

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Apple’s 2008.10.14 Event

This morning at 10:00 (PDT) in Cupertino, CA, USA, Apple held an event to announce the new MacBook Pro, MacBook and speed bumped the MacBook Air.

The entire line of MacBook, MacBook Pro and MacBook Air are now using the same construction method, where the case is created from a single block of Aluminum. Making the case much more rigid.

Apple has also removed the button from the TrackPad, and introduced a new multi-touch TrackPad with a 4th gesture; 4-fingers gesture.

Continue reading “Apple’s 2008.10.14 Event”

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Apple Event on Tuesday, Oct. 14, 10:00 PDT

It is confirmed that there will indeed be an Apple event at Apple’s Cupertino HQ, 1 Infinite Loop, titled “The Spotlight Turns to Notebooks“.

I hope they will announce and make available a new MacBook that meets my needs. Most of all will be available this year.

I love to buy a MacBook that is:

  • Has a Core 2 Duo or faster processor
  • Has a maximum RAM capacity of greater than 4GB
  • Built-in Ethernet port
  • ExpressCard 34 or 54 slot
  • Removable battery
  • Has a real-life battery capacity of more than 4 hours.

The rest are not that important. The screen size can be anywhere between 13″ – 15″.

What is the ideal MacBook you hope Apple announce next week? Please do share here in the comments.

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Not Necessary Believable News

As the saying goes, “bad news sells newspapers”.

Being true to this saying the traditional media (CNN, New York Times, etc.) are again reporting the Mac rumors as fact. Even with a recent example of how irresponsible these traditional media were; CNN iReport incident.

You can see from Dow Jones Newswires article Apple Sets Oct 14 Event: “Spotlight On Notebooks” they are referring to all the rumors about what Apple may announce as facts. They even went as far as suggesting that Apple is using this event on October 14, 2008, 09:30 (PST) as a tactic to recover the falling price of Apple’s stock (AAPL).

This Dow Jones Newswires’ Ben Charny has such high regards for Apple, that he is basically suggesting that Apple has such a great foresight, as to predict the collapse of the US economy and the global financial market. So they planned approximately 2 years ahead of time to have an event on exactly October 14, 2008; several days after Apple’s stock price broke its 52-weeks low a few times, to make announcements that will recover the price of their stock. That is utterly ridiculous.

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iPhone 3G Officially Available Unlocked in Hong Kong… Good News?

Apple HK made the iPhone 3G available to everyone with a HK shipping address via Apple Hong Kong’s online store.

This made Hong Kong the hub (and “source”) of iPhone 3G that are free from the shackle of the money hungry, backward thinking mobile carriers. As of the writing of this post Apple Hong Kong’s online store shows a 24 hours delivery time and free shipping. I am certain when news spread of this availability, the inventory will go quickly.

I was always against the idea of having to commit to Three HK for a 2-year contract just to gain the privilege of purchasing an Apple iPhone 3G. Now I have less of a barrier to bring this great device to the mobile carrier of my choice (“Smartone-Vodafone”).

Ah… my first generation iPhone worth even less now. Them are the breaks, especially with technology devices.

Is this move by Apple a sign of things to come for other (47) iPhone selling countries? Is this Apple’s way of changing their strategy to put as many iPhones in the hands of consumers as possible? This has always been one of the pain points of critics.

Continue reading “iPhone 3G Officially Available Unlocked in Hong Kong… Good News?”

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Upgraded My 1st Gen. iPhone to 2.1

Pwnage ToolEven though I am not in Hong Kong and on vacation in Beijing I am blogging and keeping an eye on the iPhone hacking community.

In the past 14 months I had unlocked/restored my iPhone over 30+ times, and documented my experience and findings with fellow readers. Much of these repeated unlocking and restoring was because I was testing various “unauthorized” 3rd party applications (“hacks”) for the iPhone, and some of them were not as stable as they should be. Even with authorized 3rd party applications my iPhone was sluggish and crashes when I run some of the applications.

When Apple claims that the iPhone firmware 2.1, released on September 12th, will correct much of the problems I’ve been encountering, I was again excited for the possibilities of returning my iPhone (1st generation) to its efficient spiffy 1.x state. Unfortunately, since my iPhone is unlocked and jailbroken I had to wait for the iPhone Dev team to upgrade their hacking tool, Pwnage Tool.

Continue reading “Upgraded My 1st Gen. iPhone to 2.1”

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Upgrading My iPhone (1st gen) to 2.0.2

After Apple released the iPhone firmware 2.0.2 over a week ago and the rumored fixes it contains, which suppose to resolve many of the issues introduced by the iPhone firmware 2.0. I was eager to be able to upgrade my iPhone (1st generation). Unfortunately, my iPhone was jailbroken and unlocked, so I had to wait for the hacking community; mainly iPhone Dev Team, to release a tool that will allow me to upgrade my pwned iPhone.

The iPhone Dev Team did introduce such a tool (Pwnage Tool 2.0.3) several days ago, but quickly pulled it off its server after several hours. Dispointed but happy that iPhone Dev Team reacted quickly on a bug that they found to be serious.

Yesterday, they finally released a new version of the Pwnage Tool 2.0.3.1 that resolved all know issues. I quickly downloaded it and after giving it 24 hours began to upgrade my iPhone.

I was happy to report that my iPhone upgraded successfully and all the issues I’ve had in the past with my iPhone running pre-2.0.2 firmware had all disappeared. Particularly the slowness when typing a message.